Barnard smoothly dovetails the lighter moments with the dark and makes sure to not skirt the traumatic moments in Ali and Ava’s marriages. Akhtar and Rushbrook handle these intense character revelations like pros, never feeling the need to veer into melodrama.

Emily the Criminal is an excellent example of how to make an effective thriller on a smaller scale.

The Naked Gun's joke-per-minute ratio is truly astounding, and the fact that so many of them hit as well as they do makes that even more impressive. For goodness' sake, even the credits have jokes in them!

The Order is a solid crime drama that sometimes hits too close to home, but that's what makes it so terrifying.

My Dead Friend Zoe opens wounds and douses them in peroxide — the immediate sensation stings, but eventually cleanses and soothes.

Both in terms of the way he lays out all the information and the craft of the filmmaking itself, Kohn shows greater patience in drawing everything out. That it teeters on the edge of the grim acknowledgment that even its truths may not be enough to change our perception of this industry and the power it holds makes it all the more enthralling to behold.

Last Summer’s solid performances elevate it, but it never reaches the heights it could by digging more deeply into the themes and more firmly grounding us in the characters and their emotions.

It may not necessarily reinvent the wheel as far as modern-day technological thrillers go, and only time will tell how the movie will age. But Influencers is still a slick and stylish sequel that exemplifies everything that made the first movie such a fun watch and then some.

Thought-provoking and poignant, In Flames isn’t an easy conversation, but it is a necessary one that rests its narrative on the pervasive gaze of patriarchal oppression.

On the heels of Girl on the Third Floor and Jakob’s Wife, Stevens continues to prove that he is one of the best indie horror directors to emerge into the mainstream. He has a deft understanding of the genre and is keenly aware of when to dole out jumpscares, visual cues, and just the right amount of gore to delight horror lovers who favor psychological thrillers just as much as bloody horror.

With eye-popping animation, a fresh story that challenges tropes, and an energetic voice performance by Chloë Grace Moretz as the titular character, Nimona is nothing less than a triumph.

Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost isn’t just a loving tribute to the great comedy duo of Stiller & Meara; it’s also a beautiful look at how much our closest ones impact us both during their lives and after they're gone.

It may not be the terrifying marvel some Raimi fans are hoping for, but it's still an entertaining enough watch that makes an SOS unnecessary.

Garland may have just delivered one of the most vicious and unrelenting watches of the year, one that I’ll keep debating and untangling both in my head and with others for a good long while.

Until the Wheels Fall Off could’ve maybe explored Hawk’s personal life with a bit more focus, but Jones still creates a captivating, edge-of-your-seat documentary that manages to make the idea of landing a trick a genuinely moving scenario.

Together is the type of joyfully demented horror film that was made to be seen in a theater with other people on the edge of their seats. Shanks has such a great handling of exactly what his movie needs at any given moment, and Brie and Franco have never been better.

Strassner and Larsen are an absolute delight to watch, and this is the kind of movie that indie cinema is all about.

Fans of Mackesy’s book will be utterly delighted to see that the hand-drawn illustrations translate beautifully to the screen without losing any of its neat-yet-messy aesthetic. Because the lines are literally pulled from the pages of the detailed original work, the movie feels less like a short film with a progressing story and more like a moving book.

Even when you then think it may have all settled down, the film twists the knife even further.

Polite Society proves to be a triumphant action comedy with wonderful characters you only wish you could get to know even more.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie isn’t exactly breaking new ground for this world and these characters, but instead, is showing how impeccably crafted and brilliant this world is when it's firing on all cylinders.

Bring Her Back captures the darkness and fear of losing someone, all while making one of the year’s best horror films. It’s that mixture, like with Talk to Me, that makes Danny and Michael Philippou two of the most exciting filmmakers in the genre.

Carmoon establishes a plot that could have been great, but becomes too caught up in the visuals of it all, and the script pays the price.

When we get to the end of its hefty runtime, we get the sensation that La Cocina tried to be several things — an investigative thriller, a fish-out-of-water drama, a delirious trip of a man who’s starting to get burnt out — and didn’t manage to take any of them all the way.

Director Frances O’Connor effortlessly immerses the audience into Emily’s heart, soul, and mind in this refreshing, storybook-like origin story for a reclusive, misunderstood, and underappreciated author.

DuVernay took a big swing with Origin, and that’s certainly to be commended, but the film sadly doesn’t work more often than it does. The impact of the end makes the journey worthwhile, but it’s a rocky road to that conclusion.

Walker-Silverman's film shows that all ends lead to new beginnings, and things can grow back stronger than ever. It's an important sentiment executed exquisitely and makes Rebuilding the film we need for our current times.

A House of Dynamite begins explosively, but unfortunately, it ends up fizzling out.